Reversible race car



May 27, 1969 Filed Jan. 25, 1967 G. A. BARLOW ETAL REVERSIBLE RACE CAR w&

1 3 9 it v Sheet INVENTORS GOAOO/VA. 54ALOW HAP/8V D/SKO BY 510mgATTORNEYS May. 1969 e. A. BARLOW ETAL 3,445,959

' REVERSIBLE RACE CAR Sheet 2 of2 Filed Jan. 25, 1967 INVENTORSGORw/VABMLOW #49070/540 J} w an 3 i BY A%T%ZZ 3,445,959 REVERSIBLE RACECAR Gordon A. Barlow, Evanston, Leonid Kripak, Villa Park, and HarryDisko, Park Ridge, Ill., assignors to Marvin Glass & Associates,Chicago, Ill., a partnership Filed Jan. 25, 1967, Ser. No. 611,769 Int.Cl. A6311 17/40, 29/22 US. Cl. 46244 7 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSUREBackground of the invention Self-propelled toy vehicles have been madeheretofore which either stop or reverse their direction of travel uponstriking an object. Typical of the prior art developments are thosedevices disclosed in US. Patent 963,715, US. Patent 2,770,074, and US.Patent 2,943,418. In each of the prior art devices, a movable portion ofthe vehicle or toy responds to the striking of an obstacle to effect achange in the motion of the device.

Summary of the invention The present invention relates to aself-propelled toy comprising a body portion, traction wheels on therear of the body and supporting wheels on the front, means biased toexert a downward pressure on the toy supporting surface and therebyoverturn the car, retaining means preventing the exerting of saiddownward pressure by the biasing means, and means for disabling theretaining means during the travel of the toy.

It is an object of the invention to provide a toy car of the typecurrently known as a drag racer, having large driving wheels and a longwedge-like front portion having smaller supporting wheels, with theupper and lower surfaces of the car being substantially identical sothat it will appear the same whichever side is up; and mechanism isprovided to propel the car and so constructed that, when properlypreset, the car will travel a predetermined limited distance, whereuponit will be turned over about its rear wheels onto its back, and thepower reversed so that it will travel back in the direction from whichit came. The overturning mechanism may also be started by impact with anobstruction, and it is contemplated that various objects will beprovided so that an obstacle course can be set up to be negotiated bythe car to test its capabilities, and those of the operator.

Further objects and advantages will become apparent from the followingdescription of an illustrative embodiment of the invention, and from theaccompanying drawings.

Brief discription of the drawings FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of thecar, a tilt-board a swinging gate, and a limit stop or bumper, alsoshowing the car in broken lines in the act of turning over;

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged plan view of the car with the upper portion ofthe body removed and with parts in section;

FIGURE 3 is a vertical sectional view taken on the line 3--3 of FIGURE2;

nited States Patent 3,445,959 Patented May 27, 1969 FIGURE 4 is a sideelevation of a portion of the car showing a controlling switch, andtaken on the line 44 of FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 5 is an exploded view, somewhat reduced, of the component partsof the switch shown in FIGURE 4; and

FIGURE 6 is a diagram of the electrical circuit.

Description of the preferred embodiment As seen in FIGURE 1, the cargenerally designated as 10, is approaching a tilt-board 12 which willrock under its weight and allow the car to proceed through a set ofswinging gates 14 into contact with a stop or bumper 16 which will tripthe overturning mechanism and cause the car to flip over as suggested inbroken lines in a manner to be fully described.

The car comprises a body 18 including a lower section 20 and an uppersection 22, as seen in FIGURES 2 and 3, the sections being separablyfastened together in any suitable manner, as by screws or the like 24engaged in bosses 26. Upper portion 22 is formed with a simulation of adrivers head 28, wearing a crash helmet, the lower section 20 is formedwith a similar simulated head 30, the latter to come into view when thecar is flipped over as previously described, so that whichever side isup, the car will appear to have a driver. The body 18 has an enlargedrear portion and tapers to a generally horizontal wedge shape toward thefront.

Body 18 is supported at the rear on traction wheels 32 and 34 fixed onan axle 36 which is threaded at 38 and throughout most of its length fora purpose to appear, and which axle is carried in bearing portions 40and 42 in the walls of lower section 20. Wheels 32 and 34 are largeenough to extend beyond the upper margins of upper section 22 and beyondthe rear of the car body, so as to support body portion 18 clear of thefloor or ground when inverted. A front axle 44 extends through slots 46in upper section 22 near the front portion of body 18 and carriessupporting wheels 48 and 50 which are also large enough to carry body 18clear of the floor either in its initial or in its inverted position.Axle 44 is yieldingly held in the top (which becomes the bottom when thecare is inverted) of slots 46 by a cantilever spring element 52, so thataxle 44 may shift slightly in the slots as permitted by yielding ofspring 52 to ease the impact when the car flips over.

The illustrated car is electrically propelled, and power is supplied bydry cells 54 and 56 cradled within body 18 and connected with each otherelectrically and with a motor 58 by means of spring clips 60, 62 and 64and through a reversing switch generally designated as 66. It is to beobserved that body 18 is preferably made of plastic, which is a goodinsulator, so that electrically conducting parts such as clips 60 and 64can :be mounted anywhere that is convenient without significantinsulating problems.

Motor 58 is supported in a bracket-frame 68 secured in any suitablemanner within body 18 as by contact with .axle 36, a bulkhead 70 anda'lug 72, and motor 58 has a pinion 74 driving an idler gear 76 fixed ona pinion 78 journaled on a pin 80 carried on bracket frame 68. Pinion 78meshes with and drives a gear 82 fixed on axle 36 as by a pin 83 so asto drive the latter at a reduced rate as compared with the very rapidrotations of pinion 74.

The mechanism for overturning the car comprises a bail preferably formedof stitf wire and having a front portion 84 normally extending acrossthe front of the car, and side portions 86 and 88 extending along thesides of body portion 18. Side 86 has an inturned pintle portion 90journaled in a disc 92 formed in the body inwardly of a funnel-likeextension 94 on the side of lower portion 20 of body 18. Pintle portion90 has an end portion 96 which is bent into a position substantiallyparallel to side 86 in the present instance, and which is engaged by oneend of a spring 98 coiled about pintle 90 within body 18 and havinganother end portion 100 engaged with a portion of lug 26, the springbeing arranged to tend to rotate pintle 90 in a clockwise direction asrelated to FIGURE 3 so that the bail is biased to exert a downwardpressure on the floor or ground when free. In similar manner, sideportion 88 has a pintle portion 102 and a spring 104 which adds itspower to that of spring 98. The bail is held in the position shown inbroken lines in FIGURE 2 by retaining means in the form of a latchelement 106 slidably supported in a suitable opening in a partition 108fixed in lower section of body 18 and urged forwardly by a spring 110engaged therewith and with a lug 112 fixed in lower section 20. Latch.106 has a long upper lip 114 and a relatively short lower lip 116,forming therebetween a notch for the reception of bail portion 84, andan actuating rod 118 fixed on latch 106 extends backwardly through bodyportion 20, between cells 54 and 56 to a point beyond axle 36. Long lip114 may encounter an obstruction and thereby disable the latch to theextent that bail portion 84 will be released to cause overturning of thecar.

Mounted at the rear of the car, adjacent motor 58 is a rocker plate 120having an upper offset portion 122 loosely engaged in notches in .anupper portion of bracket frame 68 to permit plate 120 to swingrearwardly, and the plate has a lower portion 124 constituting a leverarm loosely engaged with the rear end of rod 118, as by an offsetportion 126, so that rocking of plate 120 about upper offset portion 122in a clockwise direction will pull rod 118 and retract latch 106 fromengagement with bail portion 84, thereby disabling the latch in itsfunction of retaining bail portion 84. Plate 120 has a shelf-likecamming portion 128 extending forwardly of offset portion 122 beneathand beyond bracket frame 68 into the path of a distancesetting elementin the form of a traveler 130 engaged with the threaded portion 38 ofaxle 36. Traveler 130 has an arm 132 extending upwardly through a slot134 in upper section 22 of body 18. Slot 134 extends laterally of bodyportion 22 for a substantial portion of the width thereof and serves toprevent rotation of traveler .130 with axle 36, and also, by itsposition in slot 134, indicates the position of traveler 130 on axle 36.

As will now be apparent, operation of the car in what might be termedthe forward direction will cause movement of traveler 130 along axle 36toward cam plate 128, and when the cam plate is engaged it will bedepressed by the traveler, pulling backwardly on rod 118 and releasingbail portion 84 from the broken line position in FIGURE 2, whereuponbail portion 84 will be forcibly engaged with the floor or ground, thereaction on body 18 causing the front of the latter to rise and in factto turn completely over as suggested in FIGURE 1, with bail portion 84coming to rest across the rear end of the body 18 as indicated in fulllines in FIGURES 2 and 3. Portion 20 of body 18 now becomes the upperportion, while portion 22 becomes the lower and the car will be invertedor turned over with respect to its position in FIGURE 2.

After the car has been overturned, the rotation of wheels 32 and 34 mustbe reversed and this is accomplished by switch 66 as hereinbeforestated.

Motor 58 is of a type in which reversal of the polarity of the currentinput will reverse the rotation of pinion 74, and switch 66 is soconstituted that it will have one position in which the polarity is oneway, and another position in which the polarity is reversed as appliedto motor 58.

Switch 66 comprises basically a plate 136 of insulating material fixedlymounted on lower section 20 in any suitable manner and having contacts138 and 140 best seen in FIGURES 4 and 5, connected by wires 142 and.144 respectively with motor 58. A switch plate member 146 is juxtaposedto plate 136 and is capable of oscillating on a pin 148 journaled in abracket plate 150 (see also FIG- URE 2), plate 147 having a pair ofconductive contacts 152 and 154, pressed, in one position of plate 146,respectively into electrical connection with contacts 138 and 140. Adual contact 155 has contact points 156 and 157 extending through slotsin plate 136 on one side of contacts 138 and 140, and a dual contact 158has contact points 160 and 162 extending through slots in plate 136 onthe other side of contacts 138 and 140. Switch plate 146 has a lever.arm 164 extending generally upwardly when the car is in the positionshown in FIGURES 2 and 3, and which may be used for manually shiftingplate 146. Contact 155 has a wire 166 leading to spring clip 60 which,for example, is in contact with the positive terminal of cell 54, andcontact 158 has a wire 168 connected with spring clip 64 which is incontact with the negative terminal of cell 56. The opposite terminals ofcells 54 and 56 are connected by spring 62 so that the cells areconnected in series in well-known manner.

Plate 146 also has a finger 170 extending in a direction away from plate136 into the path of bail side portion 86 so that the switch may beactuated by movement of the bail. A dimple 172 is provided on plate 136which enters an opening 174 in lever arm 164 to yieldingly maintain theswitch in predetermined desired position.

The operation of the toy is as follows:

As seen in FIGURES 2 and 3, the car is ready to start except that thebail has not been set. The car will be picked up and bail portion 84will be forcibly pushed down and swung beneath the body portion 18 andup in front, as shown in broken lines, until short lip 116 is pushedaside with compressing of spring 110, whereupon bail portion 84 willbecome caught in the notch formed between lips 114 and 116. Switch lever164 is then pushed forwardly, rocking switch plate 146 and shiftingcontact 152 into electrical contact with contact point 160 while stillin connection with contact 138. This shifting also brings contact 154into electrical connection with contact point 157, while still inconnection with contact 140. Current will then flow from the batterythrough wire 166 and wire 144 to motor 58, returning to the batterythrough wire 142 and wire 168. Motor 58, as hereinbefore stated is soconstructed that this will cause actuation thereof in the direction topropel the car toward the right as seen in FIGURES 2 and 3. Because ofthe rotation of axle 36, traveler 130, being prevented from rotating byengagement of arm 132 with slot 134, will move slowly along threadedportion 38 of axle 36, downwardly as seen in FIGURE 2, or toward theright side of the car as related to the direction of travel. In duecourse traveler 130 will encounter camming portion 128 and depress it,rocking plate 120 and arm 124 and pulling on rod 118. Spring 110 will becompressed and latch 106 pulled out of engagement with bail portion 84which will then forcibly engage the floor and react against the car,turning it over completely, as suggested in FIGURE 1, and coming to restwith portion 84 across the back of the car instead of in front asformerly.

Near the end of its movement bail side portion 86 will encounter pin 170on plate 146 of switch 66 and swing the plate in a counterclockwisedirection sufficiently to shift contact 152 from connection with contactpoint 160 into connection with contact point 156, but without breakingconnection with contact 138. At the same time contact 154 will beshifted from connection with contact point 157 into connection withcontact point 162 but without breaking its connection with contact 140.Current will then flow from the battery through Wire 166 as before, butthis time through wire 142 to motor 58, returning through wire 144,which, it will be noted, is the opposite direction to which it flowedbefore. Motor 58 will now drive pinion 74 in the opposite direction sothat the car will travel back the way it came. In this position of plate146, lever 164 will be engaged by dimple 172 to insure that plate 146 isnot swung too far by the action of bail portion 86.

Incidentally this motion will cause traveler 130 and arm 132 to moveback away from camming plate 128 an amount determined by the distancewhich, the car is allowed to run in the reverse direction. In the eventthe car is not stopped before traveler 130 reaches the end of screw 38,the traveler moves on to an unthreaded portion of the axle (at the topin FIGURE 2) and relative movement of the two parts continues.

Further swinging of plate 146 in a counterclockwise direction, which canbe done manually by forcing lever 164 beyond dimple 172, will removecontacts 152 and 154 from connection with contacts 138 and 140, andprovide an off position of the switch in which motor 58 is inoperative.

The distance which the car will travel, in its initial forward motion,before traveler 130 encounters camming plate 128 is dependent upon theposition of traveler 130 when the car is started, and this position isreadily observable by noting the position of arm 132 in slot 134. Arm132 may be shifted before the car is started by holding the car clear ofthe floor and operating motor 48 in either direction by means of switch66, or by turning wheels 32 and 34 by hand, and a measure of skill maybe employed in locating arm 132 so that the reversal will take place ata desired point, such as immediately in front of barrier 16 in FIGURE 1.

Furthermore, if the car encounters an obstruction that contacts long lip114, latch 106 will be pushed in against spring 110 and disabled so thatbail portion 84 will be released at once, turning the car over andsending it back prior to any camming action of traveler 130 on plate128.

A game might be devised involving a measure of skill in causing the carto turn over at a predetermined point, for example to have it passtilt-board 12 and gate 14, and then turn over and reverse before hittingabutment 16, and this can be accomplished by properly locating arm 132before aiming and starting the car. The obstacles might be otherwisearranged and other obstacles supplied, and it is to be understood thatmodifications of the toy and its manner of use may occur to othersskilled in the art, and that, while the invention has been described inconnection with a specific device, modifications could be made withoutdeparting from the principles of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. A self-propelled toy comprising a body portion, traction wheels onthe rear portion of the body portion, supporting wheels on the forwardportion of the body portion, means on said toy biased to exert adownward pressure on the surface over which the toy is traveling withaccompanying upward reaction on the body portion tending to overturn thesame, retaining means preventing the exerting of downward pressure bythe first mentioned means, and means for disabling said retaining meansduring the travel of said toy including a drive mechanism having areversible electric motor, and switch means which is operable inresponse to the overturning movement of the car to reverse the directionof rotation of the motor drive shaft.

2. A self-propelled toy as set forth in claim 1, in which the disablingmeans has a portion responsive to encountering an obstruction foractuating the disabling means.

3. A self-propelled toy as set forth in claim 1, including additionalmeans operatively interconnecting said disabling means and said tractionwheels so that said disabling means is actuated after a predeterminednumber of rotations of said traction wheels.

4. A self-propelled toy as set forth in claim 1, wherein said downwardpressure is exerted so that said body is pivoted about said tractionwheels and said toy proceeds generally toward its starting position.

5. A toy vehicle comprising an elongated body portion, a pair of drivewheels mounted on an axle adjacent one end of said body, a pair ofsupporting wheels adjacent the other end of said body, drive mechanismon said vehicle drivingly connected with said drive wheels and includinga battery powered reversible electric motor, an electrical circuit forcontrolling said motor including a switch means, a member pivotallymounted on said body for movement to exert a downward pressure on thesurface supporting the vehicle to turn said body portion over, springmeans connected with said member so as to bias said member toward saidsupporting surface, latch means for releasably retaining said member inposition against the biasing force of said spring means, said memberbeing movable upon release of said latch means to exert said downwardpressure, means for operating said latch means to release said memberduring the travel of said vehicle, and said switch means including apart in the path of movement of said member which is operable to reversesaid motor when engaged by said member as the latter moves from saidlatched position.

6. A toy vehicle as set forth in claim 5, wherein said latch means ispositioned in projecting relation to the end of said body adjacent saidsupporting wheels, whereby the encounter of an obstruction by saidvehicle will operate said latch means to release said member.

7. A toy vehicle comprising an elongated body portion, a pair of drivewheels mounted on an axle adjacent one end of said body, a pair ofsupporting wheels adjacent the other end of said body, drive mechanismon said vehicle drivingly connected with said drive wheels and includinga battery powered reversible electric motor, an electrical circuit forcontrolling said motor including a switch means, a bail member pivotallymounted on said body for movement between a first position where thebight portion of said bail extends outwardly of one end of said body anda second position where said bight portion extends outwardly of theother end of said body, spring means connected with said bail so as tobias said bail toward said second position, latch means for releasablyretaining said bail in said first position against the biasing force ofsaid spring means, said bail being movable upon release of said latchmeans to exert a downward pressure on the surface supporting saidvehicle and turn said body over about the axis of said drive wheels,said switch means including a part in the path of movement of said bailwhich is operable to reverse said motor when engaged by said bail as thelatter moves from said first to said second position, said axle beingthreaded along a substantial portion of its length, a follower on saidthreaded axle portion adapted to move along said axle as the latterrotates, said latch means for said bail including a movable partextending rearwardly to position adjacent said drive axle, and meansconnected with said movable part and engageable by said follower as thelatter approaches a predetermined position along said axle, whereby saidlatch means is operated to release said bail for the latter to turn saidbody over and reverse said motor after a predetermined amount ofrotation of said axle.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,921,408 1/1960 Leblic 462443,000,137 9/ 1961 Vine 46211 X 3,264,781 8/1966 Hok-Shou 46244 LOUIS G.MANCENE, Primary Examiner. ROBERT F. CUTTING, Assistant Examiner.

U .8. Cl. X.R.

